Training - Bench Press

22 April 2012

 

I decided to run another cycle of the Ed Coan bench program. It has worked well for me in the past, pushing my stalled bench press to 345, then 360 lbs. In preparation for it I did a high-rep session today, which was painful and embarrassing (reps over 5 are very hard for me with anything over 200 lbs. and I tend to fail utterly even with light weights). Rep work is something I need to get better at and it should build some extra muscle for the heavier phases.

I’ll be doing a modified “light bench press” day in addition to the regular bench press session, which will be either heavy shoulders + chest flyes or incline bench press + moderate shoulder work (haven’t decided yet).

I’m attempting a 500-lb. squat tomorrow. Regardless of how that goes, I’ve decided to cycle back on the squats (either do light sets of 8-10 or triples with a moderate weight for a few months) as the heavy squat program is beating me up severely and my deadlift is not moving as well as I’d like it to. So I’ll have more energy to dedicate to pulling and pressing.

Bench press 245 lbs. x 9 x 2 sets (failed to get the 10^th rep twice - pathetic)

Close-grip bench press 205 lbs. x 8, x 10

Incline bench press 155 lbs. x 8, 185 lbs. x 4 (my arms had given up by this point)

Pulldowns 4 sets x 8-10 reps

Seated HammerStrength rows 3 sets x 10-12 reps

Dips – bodyweight x 12, x 10, x 8

One-arm machine preacher curls 4 sets to failure

Tricep pushdowns x 12 reps

Light ab work x a lot